THE HERBARIUM PROJECT Let your press and your imagination run wild
S/S 2014
CONTENTS
Products Art / Design: Posters / Mounted Specimens
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Garden / Craft : Bespoke Book Presses 15
Features: What’s the story? The Upper Cut
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The Earth Laughs in Flowers 11 The Herbarium Project
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Specifics Price List
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Art / Design
THE UPPER CUT SONYA PATEL ELLIS (2014) A2 Original Poster
A high-end edition of The Upper Cut poster, as displayed in The Earth Laughs in Flowers exhibition at CoffeE7 (20 March-21 April 2014), beautifully printed and packaged by top UK art printers King & McGaw. Comes complete with a numbered and artist-signed certificate explaining the inspiration behind the artwork. The perfect acquisition or gift for Jimi Hendrix fans, Forest Gate residents, and those interested in plants and flowers.
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The Upper Cut Sonya Patel Ellis (2014) A2 Original Poster 420mm x 594mm High end colour laser print 280gsm art paper Printed and packaged by King & McGaw Unframed in poster roll Launch price (Editions 1-20) £35
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What’s The Story? THE UPPER CUT On the afternoon of 26 December 1966 Jimi Hendrix (billed as The Jimmy Hendrix Experience) gave a matinee performance at The Upper Cut club on Woodgrange Road, Forest Gate, London E7. The gig, part of Billy Walker’s Fabulous Opening Week of what the Stratford Express described as ‘a plush big beat palace’ was billed ‘For all the family’ and cost just 5/d for ‘gentlemen’ and ‘ladies’. While waiting to go on stage, it is said that Hendrix wrote the lyrics to the legendary ‘Purple Haze’ in his dressing room, a fact now commemorated by a plaque on the gates outside the site of the former club. The Upper Cut club remained open for only a year but in that short time played host to some of the biggest names in 1960’s rock, pop and soul music including The Who, The Pretty Things (for whom Hendrix opened), the Small Faces, the Animals, Jeff Beck, Otis Redding, Booker T and the MG’s, and Nina Simone. The Upper Cut by Sonya Patel Ellis is a limited edition poster inspired by and commemorating the birth and first public outing of ‘Purple Haze’, and Forest Gate’s legendary Upper Cut club. The original poster was exhibited at CoffeE7 between 20 March-20 April 2014 in a show entitled The Earth Laughs in Flowers by Sonya Patel Ellis, founder of The Herbarium Project. The main image derives from a herbarium pressing of a Michaelmas Daisy, found to be one of the most prolific flowers of the Woodgrange Estate and Forest Gate ‘Village’ in a field study run by Ellis in Summer/Autumn 2013. The Michaelmas Daisy or Aster Novi-Belgii, flowers from late summer until late Autumn, it’s blue-violet blooms especially abundant in the Michaelmas
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period around 29 September (Michaelmas Day) and 11 October (Old Michaelmas Day) rendering the front gardens of Forest Gate awash in a ‘purple haze’. The text refers to the The Upper Cut club, located on Woodgrange Road, Forest Gate, London E7 between 1966 and 1967. In the absence of a door number or building, the poster pinpoints the location of the former club using latitude and longitude, a system also employed by botanists collecting plant and flower specimens for herbaria around the world. The poster also references the nominal cost of Hendrix’s Upper Cut gig, a small price to pay to hear the first ever public rendition of ‘Purple Haze’.
The original poster for The Upper Cut club, ‘Billy Walker’s Fabulous Opening Week’, featuring ‘The Jimmy Hendrix Experience’ on 26 December 1966
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Art / Design
MOUNTED HERBARIUM SPECIMEN SONYA PATEL ELLIS (2014) On commission Add the personal touch to your wall with a beautifully mounted herbarium specimen, as displayed in The Earth Laughs in Flowers exhibition at CoffeE7 (20 March-21 April 2014). Simply choose the flower or plant you would like to have pressed – the specimen can be selected with you or sourced on your behalf. It will then be pressed in a specially designed, traditional herbarium press and mounted and labelled to archive standard. The mounted specimen can then be purchased framed or unframed. Several contrasting specimens also look great on the wall together.
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Original mounted herbarium specimen Sonya Patel Ellis (2014) On commission 305mm x 460mm Pressed flower on 300 gsm acid-free watercolour paper with cartridge paper, archival ink, glue and linen tape Email sonyapatelellis@gmail.com to discuss £130 framed / £90 unframed
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What’s The Story? THE EARTH LAUGHS IN FLOWERS The Herbarium Project officially launched on 20 March 2014, via an exhibition at local cafe CoffeE7, entitled The Earth Laughs in Flowers, by founder and creative director, Sonya Patel Ellis. The exhibition allowed Ellis to present the ethos of The Herbarium Project through a selection of botanicallyinspired works, plus introduce people to The Herbarium Project website (www. theherbariumproject.com) and blog (http://atlherbier.blogspot.com). At the heart of the exhibition was a Herbarium Wall consisting of 17 pressed flower and plant pieces from Ellis’s core herbarium HP/88, designed to mimic – as accurately as possible – botanical specimens created for, and housed in, international herbaria such as Kew and Harvard. To this end, Ellis designed and created a traditional, wooden botanical press and bespoke specimen label; sourced archive quality materials for pressing and mounting; and followed precise instructions for collection, naturalistic presentation and conservation. In July 2013, she began pressing up to 12 specimens each month, collecting plants and flowers from her garden in Claremont Road, Forest Gate. At the time of exhibition, Ellis had made over 50 herbarium specimens of her garden, collectively titled HP/88. The selection she then chose to display and mount in her exhibition, included the most visually striking; those that provide the greatest contrast when grouped together; and specimens that proved most scientifically and historically interesting when researching their taxonomy (system of classification) and etymology for labelling. Viewers were invited to look more closely at each label, on which they would find not only the required common, family, genus and specific names of each
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specimen but also notes that alluded to the language of flowers and plants, and their uses. Other multi-media pieces included March of the Michaelmas Daisies, a musical box interpretation of a field study of Michaelmas daisies in Forest Gate, London E7; The Earth Laughs in Flowers, a Michaelmas daisy rootball growing out of an old guitar; The Upper Cut, a retrospective poster for the Upper Cut Club on Woodgrange Road in E7, where Jimi Hendrix is said to have written the lyrics for ‘Purple Haze’; On // Off The Page, juxtaposing pressed flowers and illustrated pages from Picasso and Monet tomes; and the launch of the Forest Gate Front Gardens Herbarium (FGFG Herbarium). Works from the exhibition are not currently for sale. However, Ellis is taking commissions of the mounted herbarium specimens, as seen in the Herbarium Wall (£130 framed / £90 unframed). Contact her to discuss which plant or flower cutting you’d like pressed and mounted – a wonderful keepsake for your wall or gift to mark a special occasion. Ellis has also produced an edition of The Upper Cut poster (launch price £35). Both options are available direct from The Herbarium Project (email sonyapatelellis@gmail. com) or through Number 8 Forest Gate, located next to CoffeE7 at 8 Sebert Road, Forest Gate, London E7. For more details including images, visit: www.theherbariumproject.com/2014/03/exhibition-texts.html http://atlherbier.blogspot.co.uk/2014/03/in-cafe-my-exhibition.html
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Garden / Craft
BESPOKE FLOWER PRESS KIT SONYA PATEL ELLIS (2014) Flower Press
Forget fiddly wing-nut flower presses. These charming kits provide a perfectly portable press thanks to the handy fastening system and wallet. Each book has also been specially selected for its cover and content to incorporate an illustrative or narrative experience while you press. Plus there’s a notebook and pencil for notes and musings. Simply place plant or flower cuttings between drying sheet, press for a recommended three weeks and enjoy the words and pictures at the same time.The ideal acquisition or gift for budding horticulturists and botanists. Let your press and your imagination run wild.
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Bespoke Flower Press Kit Sonya Patel Ellis (2014) Various sizes Bespoke Book Press / X-band / Drying Sheets Notebook / Pencil / Travel Wallet / Name Plate Small £12.50 / Large £17.50
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What’s The Story? THE HERBARIUM PROJECT The Herbarium Project was founded by writer and illustrated book editor Sonya Patel Ellis in 2014, as a platform for the creative exploration of the links between nature, art, science, literature, culture, provenance and community, and a forum through which such ideas could be discussed. The seed of the idea was originally conceived in 2010, inspired by a special over-size flower press made by Ellis’ husband in which to press her wedding bouquet and a book proposal about the art and science of flower pressing and botanical collection. By spring 2013, it had located its muse and begun to shape its future direction and design. Drawing inspiration from international herbarium collections at Kew and Harvard, personal herbariums created by artists, writers and philosophers such as Paul Klee, Emily Dickinson and Jean Jacques Rousseau, and the relics of herbarium antiquities proffered through online sites such as Ebay and Pinterest, it defined its parameters as such: The project would start with a herbarium press, designed and created by Ellis, to mimic the botanical presses used by plant hunters over the past four centuries and still employed by herbarium practitioners today. Made from oak strips, brass fastenings and to specific, professional herbarium dimensions it should be used to press each flower and plant in the main Herbarium Project collections. Secondly the directions and additional materials assimilated to collect, press and mount the specimens should be of professional and archive quality, from paper
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grade to labelling specifications, mounting methods and numbering. This way all creations would have similar longevity and purpose to those of international herbarium collections – if necessary they could be observed for botanical purpose for years to come – while at the same time samples could be fully appreciated for the inherent beauty of the plants and flowers themselves and the measured display of the herbier. Once the press had been created the pressing could begin... Ellis’ first foray under the guise of The Herbarium Project formed the content for her inaugural exhibition – The Earth Laughs in Flowers (21 March-20 April 2014) – at CoffeE7, Forest Gate, in which she presented a selection of botanically-inspired works developed throughout 2013 and early 2014. The exhibition also served as a launch pad for Ellis’ next series of works, namely her first ‘satellite’ herbarium collection – the Forest Gate Front Gardens Herbarium (FGFG Herbarium) – inviting local residents to donate a flower or plant specimen to be pressed over the course of a year. The collective results of the FGFG Herbarium should form a brilliant illustration of which plants and flowers grow well in the Forest Gate area and suit a variety of ‘front garden’ designs and vistas, and a full collection list will be given to each participant.This list will also be given to the proposed Forest Gate Community Garden, as an invaluable resource for future planting and design. The FGFG Herbarium has already proved to be a catalyst for some wonderful conversations about nature and the locality. Indeed, the project may lead to further initiatives such as plant or seed swaps – an exciting prospect for those who would like to cultivate their patch or get in touch with other budding horticulturalists to share stories and ideas. Ellis has also been busy developing her first range of products under The Herbarium Project label, including an edition of The Upper Cut poster (as exhibited at CoffeE7), bespoke flower presses and commissions of mounted herbarium specimens. Products are available to purchase direct (email sonyapatelellis@ gmail.com) or at local emporium Number 8 Forest Gate.
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PRICE LIST
IN STORE The Upper Cut / A2 Original Poster
£35
Bespoke Flower Press Kit / Small
£12.50
Bespoke Flower Press Kit / Large
£17.50
BESPOKE COMMISSIONS Mounted Herbarium Specimen / With frame
£130
Mounted Herbarium Specimen / Without frame
£90
All prices inc.VAT theherbariumproject.com
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Sonya Patel Ellis
THE HERBARIUM PROJECT London E7 WEB: theherbariumproject.com BLOG: atlherbier.blogspot.com FACEBOOK: facebook.com/theherbariumproject EMAIL: sonyapatelellis@gmail.com TWEET: @sonyapatelellis TEL: 07961 102722